By the time children are of preschool age (around four), they possess a vastly-increased ability to distinguish between various stimuli; call and remember objects by name and, in general, are capable of learning, thinking, perceiving and solving problems. One of the important ways in which children grow intellectually is by playing games. These games are perhaps most stimulating and interesting for both boys and girls when they involve creative activity.
Since children, if not stifled, are naturally curious and enjoy clutching, grasping and manipulating different objects. A set of toy blocks designed especially for children, aged four and older, would prove to be educational as well as enjoyable if the blocks are adapted to teach basic arithmetic and also to give a visual representation of metric units of lengths and volumes.
A search of the prior art reveals several different toys which are intended to be educational. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,094,792, dated June 25, 1963 to Morgan et al and entitled: EDUCATIONAL TOY, teaches the use of a set of blocks of different lengths, each one being proportionally as long as the numerical value it designates. The purport of the patent is to give a child a visual and sensual or physical presentation of number relationships. However, the patent is limited spatially to the combinations of shapes shown in the Figures, not being intended as a toy with which different objects can be built.
Other educational toys in the prior art have, in general, similar limitations. Moreover, they are frequently complicated or difficult to manipulate for small children, thereby reducing the possibilities of creative and educational play which children experience in their imagination.